2 DAC's in Signal Path

There has been a few recent threads regarding installing a stand alone DAC with Chromecast audio dongle. I installed a Topping D-30 with a CCA. It certainly improved SQ. Trying to gain understanding on the process of signal path going through the DAC on the CCA and then through though stand alone DAC. Is the signal "converted" twice, or is the CCA DAC disabled somehow?

Out of curiosity, did you have the CCA set for full dynamic range (in Settings, while in the Devices page of the Google Home app) when using it without the new DAC? I'm not surprised at all that you got improvement with the new DAC, just that the magnitude of that improvement would be all the more noticeable if the CCA was still in its default (limited dynamic range) mode. That setting makes no difference for the optical output you are using now, as it is "full dynamic range", regardless of the setting.

Out of curiosity, did you have the CCA set for full dynamic range (in Settings, while in the Devices page of the Google Home app) when using it without the new DAC? I'm not surprised at all that you got improvement with the new DAC, just that the magnitude of that improvement would be all the more noticeable if the CCA was still in its default (limited dynamic range) mode. That setting makes no difference for the optical output you are using now, as it is "full dynamic range", regardless of the setting.